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Friday, December 05, 2008

Student Designer Creates New Costume for Kings Dance Team

Posted by Sasha at 4:53 AM ET

International Academy of Design & Technology students submitted more than 100 designs

Sacramento, Calif. (Vocus/PRWEB) December 1, 2008 -- On November 5th, the Sacramento Kings played their home opener for the 2008-09 season and the Sacramento Kings Dance Team (SKDT) debuted its new costume designed by Yer Vang. Vang was one of 35 students from the International Academy of Design & Technology - Sacramento (the Academy) who participated in a design competition and created 103 designs. There were three categories: business, casual and dance. Liliya Nixon and Sandy Vang were winners in the casual and business categories, so their apparel will be used for events off the court.

Over the summer of 2008, the Academy made contact with the NBA basketball franchise for a student appreciation event. Director of Entertainment for Maloof Sports & Entertainment, Tom Vannucci, visited the campus along with community services program manager, Ivette Gonzalez. The team had identified the need for outfits that would be appropriate for community outreach events, as well as new dance costumes. Treating the Kings as a client, the Academy incorporated a design competition into an advanced fashion class for their upper division students.

Several meetings between the Sacramento Kings representatives and the students followed. During an orientation meeting, Vannucci was introduced to discuss the costume requirements of the SKDT, provide some design guidelines and be available to answer students' questions about the competition. The Sacramento Kings Dance Team members came to the campus throughout the competition to provide input to students and be available for fittings.

"This was a very exciting and different sort of opportunity that had our students pushing themselves to their limits," said Academy fashion instructor, Sarah Goodman. "The project presented some unique challenges, one of which was the range of sizes we needed to satisfy. The Dance Team members aren't, believe it or not, one standard size, so there were a lot of body types that had to be taken into account Yer's final costume really captured the sporty, athletic needs of the team, as well as fit the wide range of sizes and figures in the group."

Over the course of twelve weeks, students did prep work and then designed their submissions. A panel of judges was assembled comprised of representatives from the Sacramento Kings, the National Basketball Association, Academy faculty, and a guest judge specializing in entrepreneurial projects. The judges critiqued designs and selected five student semi-finalists.

The Sacramento Kings fans were able to vote for the winning costume. During the three preseason games, models came out onto the court wearing the semi-finalists' creations. Fans voted via text messaging for their favorite costume to be worn by the Sacramento Kings Dance Team for the 2008-09 season. On November 5, 2008, the Academy took a twenty-person entourage of students, faculty and administration to the season home opening game.